I can tell you, but you may not like the answer. Do you really want to know?

  “Of course I want to know!” Jin shouted.

  Why? Because of the “magic spell” she put on you? The knowledge seemed to think it was being funny.

  “Because she was my lead to the Last Knight!” Jin shouted, thankful to have a reason, instead of the gnawing uncomfortable emptiness in the pit of his stomach at the moment. That emptiness had to be the remains of her spell… right? “Without her, I may never find him. Now tell me where she is! How did I get back here?”

  At the moment, the Golden King has her.

  Jin wasn’t presently in human form, so he didn’t actually have any blood, but if he had, it would have run cold in his veins. “What?”

  I told you that you might not like the answer.

  “But how? We were nowhere near his castle. He could have called me back, but she would have stayed… wherever we were.”

  The flame she used to heal you was made of pure magic. She accidentally used its power to bring you home and was taken along with you.

  Jin immediately flew straight to the top of the ring, banging his hands against it. “Your Majesty!” he shouted, not even sure if the king could hear him. “Let me out! I need to speak to you!”

  But no one answered, and Jin remained unsummoned.

  He floated back down to his luxurious couch, suddenly not at all comforted by it. What could be happening outside now? Had the king thrown the girl in the dungeon, or worse? Could he be torturing her for information about the Last Knight?

  The possibilities were endless, and if Jin didn’t get out soon, he was going to explode with worry.

  CHAPTER 21

  I’m sorry—if I eat any more, I might explode,” Lena said to one of the king’s servants in a side room, waving away the offer of more food. “It’s all very delicious, thank you. But I really need to speak to the king again. I need to find the boy I came here with, and make sure he’s all right.” She paused, dreading asking the next question, but needing it to sound casual, so they wouldn’t notice she was terrified. “Oh, and the flame I arrived with is really important, so I’d like to have it back, if that’s okay.”

  The man who brought her food smiled slightly, his clothes made from gold, just like the king’s had been. “I’m sorry, miss, but the king is very busy. He will summon you when he is free, I’m sure.”

  And with that, he left her alone in the room and, just like every time he’d exited, locked the door behind him.

  She dropped her head into her hands and groaned as Rufus made loud chomping noises from the table next to her, getting the stew he was eating everywhere.

  Here she was, locked away in the Golden King’s castle. All she knew about him came from Mrs. Hubbard and the others in the Cursed City, but none of the stories were good. In fact, he sounded like a horrible tyrant who wanted to destroy the city and the Last Knight.

  And now he had the Spark. Not only had Lena accidentally stolen the giants’ most sacred object, but she’d handed it over to the Cursed City’s worst enemy.

  Not to mention that no one would tell her if the boy was here, or if he was okay!

  “Food is good,” Rufus said, not looking up from his bowl, his third helping.

  She petted his head, trying to avoid the various splashes of stew in his fur. “I couldn’t actually eat much,” she said, pushing the plate in front of her away. She’d lied and said she’d had enough, but in reality, she felt too sick to eat and just wanted the servant to take her to the king.

  Instead, she was locked in some side chamber, just as golden as the main dining room she’d landed in earlier, and had no idea what to do.

  Trying to keep from despairing about it all, she decided to work out how exactly she’d gotten here. It had to be the Spark, of course. It clearly did more than just healing. Somehow it’d heard her thoughts and brought them all to the Golden King’s castle, trading one horrible king for another.

  But she’d asked for the boy to get home safely. And if this was the boy’s home, that brought up all kinds of questions, like how he’d been in the clearing to help her against the Faceless, and how he knew about the Cursed City.

  Not to mention that he lived with the Golden King, the leader of the Faceless. So why help her?

  Part of her wanted to take Rufus and just run, get away. But if she did that now, she’d be leaving both the boy and the Spark behind, since the king had taken it from her hands before she knew what was happening. Fortunately, and surprisingly, the king had acted oddly decent to her, at least so far. In spite of the fact that she’d appeared out of nowhere in his dining room, practically landing right on his chair with him, he hadn’t had her thrown in the dungeon or anything.

  Instead, he had his servants take care of her, feeding her and giving her a place to stay while he finished with his feast in the main dining room. He had taken the Spark, yes, but he claimed it was just so he could make sure it wasn’t dangerous, as he didn’t know who she was any better than Lena knew him. It was hard to argue with that.

  But no matter what the king had said, she wasn’t going to be able to sit here for much longer. As it was, she had to keep telling herself to stay calm and wait, that she was a stranger here, and she had to be polite and patient.

  The only problem was, patience was overrated. Punching holes in walls and leaving, meanwhile, was much more satisfying.

  “Okay, calm down,” she told herself, unclenching her fists and dropping her palms onto the table. “You need to relax. Take deep breaths.” She closed her eyes and did just that, only opening them as she felt something odd beneath her palms. She looked down and discovered that she’d left handprints in the surface of the golden table, which didn’t seem like the best way to get in the king’s good graces.

  “Lena is angry?” Rufus asked, stew dripping from his mouth as he looked up at her curiously.

  “Lena is scared, little man,” she said. “Not for us, but for that boy.”

  Rufus’s ears went back. “The boy hunted us. He was in Treats Lady’s den.”

  She frowned at this. “What do you mean? In the Boot-ique? I didn’t see him there.”

  Before her cat could respond, the door opened, and the Golden King strode in, smiling widely, the Spark in his hand. Just the sight of it made Lena feel a bit less anxious, though she’d have felt a lot better if she were the one holding it.

  “I hope you’ve had a good meal, my young friend,” the king said to her as she quickly stood up and bowed, hoping that was the right move. He waved her to sit back down and took a seat across from her and Rufus. “Was everything to your liking?”

  “Oh, yes, of course, it was great, Your, ah, Majesty,” Lena said, stumbling over her words a bit. The giant king’s protocol she knew, but human royalty was a new concept to her, and she wasn’t sure how they liked to be treated. “I’m worried about the boy I came with, though. No one can tell me if he’s okay, or even if he’s here.”

  The king nodded. “Yes, the boy. He’s, ah, just fine.” He absently tapped a gloved hand against the table, and it made a metallic noise, like he was wearing a ring beneath it. He looked away for a moment before turning back to Lena. “You have my word on that. Don’t you worry a bit.”

  Lena let out a huge sigh of relief, collapsing back into her chair. “That’s… that’s great news,” she said, smiling slightly. “I honestly was worried!”

  “Where exactly did you meet him, if you don’t mind my asking?” the king said, frowning slightly.

  “Oh, in the woods, outside of… my village,” Lena said, cringing inside at the lie. She couldn’t let the king know she’d come from the Cursed City, or that the king’s own soldiers had been attacking her and the boy, though. The Faceless had been searching for the Last Knight, most likely on the king’s orders, so she had to keep all of that quiet, or else he might start questioning her about the knight, too. “But if you say he’s okay, then that’s all I need to know. Can I see him?”

  The king’s frown deepened. “Oh, I’m afraid not. He’s one of my personal servants and has been given an extremely important task to fulfill.” He looked up at Lena with one eyebrow raised. “He didn’t mention anything about it, did he?”

  “No, I didn’t even get his name,” Lena said, feeling a strange sense of sadness over not getting to apologize to the boy and thank him for trying to help her against the Faceless. Even if he did work for their leader. “Please tell him I really appreciate everything he did for me, though.”

  The king nodded. “I will. Now tell me about yourself. You seem… tall for a child, yet you mentioned to one of my servants that you are only twelve. You are fully human, aren’t you?”

  Part of her wanted to just admit the truth about being a giant, especially knowing that if she kept lying now, it would only cascade until she lost control of it altogether. But as nice as this king was acting, she knew she couldn’t trust him, not after everything she’d heard in the Cursed City. “Just… tall for my age, I guess,” she said, inwardly sighing at how far from reality that statement was.

  He stared at her for a moment, making her wonder if he could tell she was lying, but then turned to the Spark in his hands. “And this? My advisors tell me that it isn’t going to burn down my castle, which I’m thankful for.” He laughed like he’d made a joke, and Lena joined him, trying to be polite.

  “That’s the Spark,” she said, reaching closer to take it. The king, however, didn’t pass it over, so she pulled her hand back awkwardly. “It’s, uh, a family heirloom.”

  “And what does it do?” He smiled. “Again, if you don’t mind my asking.”

  “Of course not,” Lena said, her mind racing about what to say, considering she’d already lied about being a giant. Given that, how could she explain the Spark? “It’s mostly just been used for… healing.”

  Both the king’s eyebrows rose now. “Healing? This flame? How does it work?”

  Now he placed it in the middle of the table, just close enough for Lena to reach the fire, but too far away to look like he was handing it over. She took a deep breath, then stuck a hand into the flame, waving it around to show she wasn’t burned. “See?” she said, her voice cracking at having to touch the Spark again. “Very safe. But if you don’t mind, I really should get it back to my family—”

  “Healing,” the king said again, pulling the Spark back over to his side. “Interesting. How powerful is it? Could it heal some sort of… magical curse, do you think?”

  “Oh, maybe?” Lena said, wondering if the king needed a curse broken. If she could help him with it, he might return the Spark in thanks. Maybe he’d even be willing to call his Faceless back from the Cursed City, if he really needed the help? “Did you have someone cursed who needs healing?”

  The king smiled slowly. “You know, I often tell the story about how my father, the king, decided to test his children, and see which was his most worthy heir. We all went out and brought him back an object that most symbolized power to each of us, and it went like you might expect.” He leaned closer, staring at Lena. “But the part I usually leave out is that the winner was actually my youngest sister. We boys all left on adventures and brought back shadow magic and genies, but she just walked down to my father’s library and brought back a pile of books.”

  “Books?” Lena asked, not sure what any of this meant.

  “She was claiming knowledge and wisdom were the ultimate power,” the king said, waving his golden-gloved hand absently. “And my father declared her the winner. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too happy about that, so I used the glove I found to turn him and my brothers to gold.”

  Lena’s eyes widened, and she slowly looked down at the golden glove on his hand.

  The king glanced away for a moment. “She was never in any danger, of course, both because she’s always been my favorite, and because she was wise enough not to be around when we returned. I think about her often, wondering how she’s doing.”

  Then the king reached out and touched his golden glove to Rufus’s head. Before Rufus could move, a wave of gold swept down over him, turning his fur and skin to gold, freezing him in place as a statue.

  It all happened too quickly for Lena to even react. As she slowly stood up, her heart racing as her entire body went cold, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. “What… what did you do?” she whispered, not able to believe it.

  “Oh, I turned your enormous cat to gold,” the king said, holding the Spark in his hand. “Now, I suggest you explain to me how this fire works, so I can try it on your cat. Like my sister said, knowledge is power, child. So either give me that knowledge, or your pet stays golden forever.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Jin paced around in his luxurious other-dimensional home, muttering to himself. The comfortable couch was now lying on its side after he tried using it to break out of the ring, hoping it might open a way for him to escape. He might have known that’d be impossible, if his cosmic knowledge wasn’t being so useless.

  I heard that, you know.

  Good! Jin thought back. You were meant to! I hope you’re offended enough to do something and help me get out of here!

  There is no way out. The ring is your prison until such time as you’ve learned humility and committed a selfless act. Either that, or after one thousand and thirty-eight more years of service, which seems like it’ll happen sooner.

  Jin growled, pulling at the hair he’d added to his head just to pull on. “Okay!” he shouted out loud. “I hereby am going to commit a selfless act by saving Lena. See? Now let me out!”

  Nice try.

  Jin screamed out a few thoughts of his own, specifically about where the cosmic knowledge might go.

  Well, now I wouldn’t help you even if you were being selfless! That was just rude, not to mention impossible, even for me.

  Jin growled in frustration and slid down the nearest wall, dropping his head into his hands. What was going on outside? Why hadn’t the Golden King summoned him yet? He had to know Jin had returned, and there was no Last Knight in sight.

  So why wasn’t the Golden King punishing him for failing, or at least demanding an answer?

  The only possibility was that the king was distracted by Lena, and maybe the Spark, if she still had it on her. And if she did, then the king would most likely be torturing her to figure out how it worked.

  The thought of Lena in pain made Jin want to throw up, something he wasn’t even sure he could do in his spirit form, inside the ring.

  Honestly, even I am a little surprised by how much you’ve taken to this girl. I mean, I knew it was coming, and what choices you’d make because of it, but still. Look at you. You’re so upset about an earthly creature!

  “No, I’m not,” Jin said, rolling his eyes. “She clearly used a spell on me! And besides, she’s my only link to the Last Knight. That’s it! I’m just here to finish my wishes so I can get away from the Golden King, okay?”

  Mm-hm.

  The cosmic knowledge was not helping, so Jin tuned him out, trying to stay calm.

  Five minutes later he tried throwing the couch against the ceiling again. This time, it split apart when it crashed back to the floor.

  Satisfied?

  “No!” Jin shouted. “All I want to do is get out there and—”

  Midway through his yell he found himself staring at the Golden King, in the middle of an otherwise empty throne room. The king raised an eyebrow at Jin’s words.

  “Get out there and what, genie?” he asked.

  “Get out there and make your wish come true,” Jin finished quickly, bowing low. “I’m truly sorry I haven’t yet found the Last Knight, Your Majesty. But I know how to find him, and—”

  The Golden King put a hand up to stop him. “That can wait.”

  Jin’s eyes widened in shock. It could what? There was nothing that made the king angrier than the rebels, and the Last Knight was the most rebel-y of all. And that was before the knight had humiliated the king in his throne room, too. “I must have misheard you, Your Majesty, as I thought you said—”

  “Oh, I’ll be punishing you for your failure, of course,” the king said, and Jin felt his throat tighten in anticipation. “And the Last Knight’s capture remains a top priority. But for now, I need to know everything about the girl you brought here.”

  A million different emotions exploded in Jin’s head at once. What had the king done to Lena? Had he hurt her? Was he holding her hostage? What was going on?

  But he couldn’t let the king know he cared at all, or he’d make it all so much worse for both of them. “A girl, you say? I’m not sure who you’re talking about.”

  The king smiled and beckoned someone to come in from the side of the room.

  Jin slowly turned to find several Faceless knights carrying two golden statues into the throne room. One was a large cat, Lena’s cat, and the other—

  Jin’s mouth dropped open in horror as he stared at a perfectly rendered statue of Lena in gold.

  “You should see what she did to my antechamber,” the king said as Jin discovered he was having a hard time breathing, now that he was back in human form. “She refused my simple request, then took down half a squad of Faceless before I decided enough was enough and turned her to gold.”

  “Is she…,” Jin started to say, but felt his mouth go dry, something that had never happened to him before, and he couldn’t get the words out.

  “Alive?” the king said. “Of course, just like all the rest.” He pointed at the other statues lining the room, including those of the various rebels he’d captured over the years. “All I asked her to do was explain to me how to use the magical Spark she had to restore her cat back from a golden statue, and she just went wild, attacking all the guards, even me!” He seemed more offended by this than anything. “So tell me, who is this girl, and why did you bring her here?”

  “She’s… no one,” Jin said, staring at her golden eyes, frozen now in anger. Even her fists were still raised and ready to fight, like she was a moment away from punching whoever dared stand between her and her pet. “Just some girl I met along the way. Some of your Faceless attacked me, not knowing I worked for you, and one stabbed me.” He turned back to the king, using the anger he felt over that prior pain to push past his other feelings. “What kind of swords do they have, anyway? It really hurt!”

 

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